Author: Hunter Lewis

“Progressives” tend to think of themselves as warriors for racial, gender, and economic equality. The latter they equate with “social justice.” But is economic equality synonymous with social justice? For one thing, equality is an oxymoron. If everyone is equal, who will have the power to enforce equality? And if some have the power to enforce it, how can they still be regarded as equal to everyone else? Even if we are willing to give up liberty, which is the antithesis of equality (so much for the daft French revolutionary slogan of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity), is it not illogical … Continue reading →

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[This article is a selection from Where Keynes Went Wrong]: Paul Samuelson, professor of economics at MIT after World War II and author of a best-selling economics textbook, was one of Keynes’s most ardent American disciples. Here is what he has to say about the latter’s General Theory: It is a badly written book, poorly organized. . . . It is ar­rogant, bad-tempered, polemical, and not overly gener­ous in its acknowledgements. It abounds in mare’s nests and confusion…. In reading this, one recalls Keynes’s infatuation with paradox. Samuelson, the ardent disciple, is telling us that the master’s book is good because it … Continue reading →

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Noah Smith, writing in Bloomberg, says that middle-class America has indeed been fleeced by our national economic policies. We agree. But which policies have been responsible? Smith mentions and immediately dismisses trade, immigration, economic regulation, and welfare policies. The real villain in his view is an alleged turn toward managing the economy on free market lines: “Your prosperity was taken by the very people who promised to ensure and enhance it. The decades from 1980 through 2008 were the age of neoliberalism — the ideology of the free market.” This is a story that we hear more and more. Neoliberals, the … Continue reading →

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The Republicans have a problem. Healthcare prices are so swollen by government imposed monopolies that most people cannot possibly afford to pay the crazy bills without subsidies. What to do? Example: my son recently went to an out-of-state emergency room for food poisoning. The bill came in at over $8,000. And how is this for fairness: our insurance company knocked it down to about $4,000. An uninsured person would have been liable for the full amount. Might even have faced bankruptcy for failure to pay it. I personally lobbied for a provision in Obamacare preventing hospitals for charging the uninsured more … Continue reading →

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Senator Joe McCarthy perfected the technique in the United States: whenever you disagree with anybody, don’t debate ideas, go right into name calling. In McCarthy’s day, the epithet of choice was  “Communist.”  In recent years, it has morphed into  “racist, sexist, homophobe, latinophobe, Islamophobe, xenophobe etc., etc.” There were Communists in McCarthy’s day, which made his technique seem to work for a while. Richard Nixon was accused of being a McCarthyite because he thought State Department employee and Georgetown upper crust favorite Alger Hiss was a Stalinist agent, but eventually Soviet records confirmed that Hiss was indeed a Stalinist agent. … Continue reading →

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My own recent experience with prostate cancer may be useful to you in sorting out the options. I am an investment, not a medical, professional. But for that very reason, I have no biases, no axe to grind, and above all, no income that would be put at risk from progress in medicine. We live in a world of government enforced medical monopolies. The general rule is that doctors will recommend whatever they do, and either they or insurance companies will seek government help in thwarting competition from new and often better approaches. Getting up to date and objective advice … Continue reading →

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Rubio post-mortems miss the point. In the end, it is just more fall-out from crony capitalism. None of the post-mortems of Rubio’s campaign I have seen mention the real reason why the young senator, so articulate, so successful, recently touted as the future of his party, never got launch speed in his campaign for the presidency. It is actually Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY)’s handiwork, aided and abetted by Rubio’s misjudgment. Shortly after the 2012 election, the GOP was worrying about Romney’s poor showing among Hispanics. At the same time, Senator Schumer and other Democrats were thinking that Rubio, himself Hispanic, … Continue reading →

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What Does Michael Burry Say About Today’s Economy and Investment Scene? Michael Burry was the hero of Michael Lewis’s book The Big Short, about the Crash of 2008, and also the hero of the popular film of the same name. Burry is a hedge fund investor (Scion Asset Management) who normally keeps a low profile. Lewis is perhaps the most readable writer on Wall Street today. His articles and books are always hard to put down, partly because he finds either very colorful figures or thoughtful, interesting, and little-known figures such as Burry and builds his story around them. New … Continue reading →

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